How to introduce development education into university? Intruments and experiences of spanish technical environments

Abstract

In this paper we present some experiences of Development Education (DE) introduced in the three main Spanish Universities with Technical Studies: Technical University of Valencia, Catalunya and Madrid. The concept of DE we are following in this paper is the next one: DE as a strategy of international cooperation aimed at the citizens/people of the North. Its main goal is the empowerment of people through a teaching and learning process, which develops knowledge, skills and values in learners, thus enabling them to become members of a global community of equals [1]. First of all, in this paper we present a tipology of different instruments that the University owe in order to develop development education activities. This proposal is based on the conclusion of the Committee of University Development Aid (CEURI) and was reelaborated by the authors of this paper and collaborators [2,3]. Secondly, we discuss about the main characteristic of four strategies we have developed in the three Universities referred above: 1) Ethical codes such the Ethical Code of the School of Industrial Engineers of Technical University of Valencia. 2) Teaching innovation groups such the GREVOL group of Technical University of Valencia, the Interest Group of Collaborative Learning of the Technical University of Catalunya and the Development Education Group of Information and Communication Technologies of the Technical University of Madrid. 3) Free elective courses in bachelor studies dedicated to international development aid in the three universities and posgraduate studies which link development education and technology for human development. 4) Mobility programs in coordination with NGDOs developed in the Technical University of Catalunya. The description of these initiatives would like to illustrate the great potential of the DE activities developed in the three Spanish Universities. We will introduce some considerations about the impact of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in those strategies.